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Since the early 1980s, specialized problem-solving courts known as drug courts emerged in the United States as a response to the backlog of drug and alcohol-related cases plaguing the U.S. criminal justice system. In a few decades, with the seeming success of the drug court in helping AOD defendants achieve sobriety while reducing recidivism, the drug court model has achieved international prominence as well. This paper discusses a pilot study which seeks to analyze the feasibility of connecting a website, drughelp.care, developed at the host institution of the co-authors, to the everyday operations of local drug courts. Talcott Parsons' AGIL schema is utilized as a conceptual template for organizing our thinking about how the website could improve services to administrators and clients according to the unique functional elements of the drug court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nudging is a form of soft paternalism whereby governments manipulate the choice architectures of citizens to steer them toward desired outcomes (including eating better, voting more often, being less aggressive and violent, being more compassionate, living healthier, and leading more fulfilling lives). From the perspective of social activists (including moral entrepreneurs of various stripes), public health officials, social marketers, and government actors, the more subtle forms of nudging help mitigate populist backlash against nanny states which are viewed as overly aggressive and instrusive in mandating by force of law that citizens do what's best for them or face repurcussions. In his latest book, Cass Sunstein examines both the pros and cons of the use of behavioral economics by governments to nudge sometimes reluctant publics to pursue goals and establish lifestyles which experts believe will maximize life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness., Author(s): James J. Chriss[sup.1] Author Affiliations: James J. Chriss is Professor in the Department of Criminology, Anthropology, and Sociology (CAS) at Cleveland State University. His most recent books are Confronting [...]

Ideally, the goals a society pursues are predicated on a voluntary consensus of the citenzenry who through their actions in the private and public spheres develop an approximation of the good or just society. However, just like badtasting medicine which may have to be force fed in order to get the patient well, the achievement of some elements of the good society seem to involve a group of experts, often far removed from popular sentiment or opinion, who must go behind the backs of citizens in order to move them toward the better life. But instead of the ham-fisted interventions of a nanny state which often lead to overt resistance and public ridicule, governments can use social marketing and the more subtle principles of behavioral economics to nudge a wary and reluctant public toward valued ends. I argue that although such obfuscation and sugarcoating may work over the short term, in the long run nudging may do more harm than good. Keywords Nudging * Social marketing * Nanny state * Public heath * Administrative law * Behavioral economics, In 2008, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein published a book titled Nudge, which made recommendations regarding how governments and government actors should deal with populist pessimism toward what is pejoratively [...]